November 7, 2016
Categories: Baikonur Cosmodrome, ESA, GCTC, ISS, NASA, Roscosmos, Russia, Soyuz, Space
ISS-50/51 Crews Raised Flags at Baikonur

Baikonur launchsite saw traditional flag-raising ceremony taking place at the pad #17 in front of Cosmonaut hotel.
Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Novitsky and Fyodor Yurchikhin raised the flag of the Russian Federation, NASA astronauts Peggy Witson and Jack Fisher – the US flag, ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet – the flag of France and ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli – the flag of Kazakhstan.
Roscosmos corporation representatives, Baikonur city authorities and Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre specialists attended the ceremony.
On the same date following long-standing tradition ISS-50/51 mission back-up crew members went on tour around the city of Baikonur. During this tour the cosmonauts learned more about the history of the city and Kazakh national traditions.
First of all Fyodor Yurchikhin, Jack Fisher and Paolo Nespoli laid flowers to the first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin monument and the monument to Sergey Korolyov. After that they visited Baikonur City History Museum where they tried on Kazakh traditional suits and left memorable notes in Museum guestbook.
The launch of Soyuz MS-03 spacecraft is scheduled for November 17, 2016.

More from this category:
June 9, 2020
Cosmonaut team selection: first results

Roscosmos State Corporation has finished accepting applications for participation in the open competition for the selection of candidates for the Russian Cosmonaut team, which was…

full story
May 20, 2019
The assembly of the head part of the “Proton-M” rocket starts at Baikonur cosmodrome

On May 17, the assembly of the head part of the “Proton-M” space rocket for the launch of the Russian communications satellite “Yamal-601” began at…

full story
August 20, 2015
MSS: ISS Crew to Redock Soyuz in Manual Mode

Operations on Soyuz TMA-16M manned spacecraft redocking from Poisk small research module to Zvezda service module of Russian ISS segment are scheduled for August 28…

full story
July 11, 2013
Communication Satellites Launch Schedule to be Changed

New communication satellites launch schedule for 2013 may be changed by Roscosmos due to the recent Proton-M crash, – Russian Ministry of Communications and Mass…

full story
November 25, 2019
“Progress MS-13”: launch date updated

During the pre-flight preparation of the “Progress MS-13” cargo spaceship at the Baikonur cosmodrome, RSC “Energia” specialists identified a defect on the onboard cable. The…

full story
January 26, 2019
“Progress MS-09” spaceship is regularly de-orbited and submerged in the Pacific Ocean

On January 25, at 15:55 (Moscow time), the “Progress MS-09” cargo spaceship, having completed its mission, undocked from the Russian segment of the International Space…

full story
September 4, 2024
Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft docked with the transition compartment

The Soyuz MS-26 manned spacecraft is being prepared for launch at Baikonur. Specialists docked it with the transition compartment of the Soyuz-2.1a launch vehicle before…

full story
January 21, 2014
4 Soyuz-ST boosters will be launched from Kourou in 2014

Russian Soyuz-ST boosters will be launched 4 times from European Kourou spaceport (South America) in 2014, – the Head of Russian ESA office  Rene Pischel…

full story